Community Cast on Season 4's New Storylines, Upcoming Guest Stars, Oddly-Timed Holiday Episodes and More

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Welcome back to Greendale! Here's what's in store for you this season...

By Eric Goldman

After an agonizing delay for fans, Community is finally back this Thursday night for Season 4. In November, I was among a group of journalists who visited the set to speak to cast members Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown and Jim Rash about what to expect as class is back in session at Greendale.

It’s no secret there were some big changes behind the scenes at Community this past year, with the show’s creator and showrunner Dan Harmon being replaced, and, eventually, Chevy Chase departing (an event that took place just a week or so after my visit to the set). But the Community cast were in good spirits when we spoke, explaining what’s to come this year and how they are having fun with the delay the show had.

The Greendale Gang

For the first time, Rash -- an Oscar-winning screenwriter for his work on The Descendants -- has written an episode of Community this season. McHale deadpanned, “Jim wrote an episode this year. It was pretty bad, but... I dunno.” Said Rash, “I just wrote words on a napkin and said, 'Let's see what happens!'”

McHale noted, “ It's our tenth episode. It mainly centers on Troy and Abed. It is a play in some body-switching worlds. It's very Greendale in the sense that it's warped, but there's a lot of heart and it comes to some resolutions about some key things that play out over the season.”

Look for plenty of interesting moments between Jeff and the oh-so attentive Dean Pelton. Recalled McHale, “One moment that I loved [this season] is that I go to his office and say, 'Dean, I need you!’” Rash elaborated, “I just go, 'It's happening!' We certainly had a lot of fun in our season premiere this year. The Dean is much more aggressive this year as far as trying to push the line to see if something [with Jeff] will happen, which has been a joy. I get to see if I can make Jeff uncomfortable, as much as I can."

Speaking about her character, Brie said, “In the premiere episode, we see Annie trying to be loosey-goosey again, and like she’s going to play senioritis this year. It’s sort of similar to Abed. I think the whole group this season is struggling with the idea of Jeff graduating. It’s our fourth year, and he wants to graduate early like he always has. So I think that’s kind of a general group struggle this season. Then it’s other characters finding their way. Other characters may not graduate this year….” Brown chimed in, “Some may, though. You never know. Anybody could graduate this year. It’s a wild card. Maybe Shirley graduates, you just don’t know.”

Brie also revealed, “Annie ends up finding a new direction in forensics, and that’s something she’s really enjoyed. I think it kind of makes sense because touches on things from past seasons like the Law & Order episode, even though she was more the lawyer in that episode…”

Brown noted, “Shirley has a sandwich shop this year,” and turned to Brie, adding, “And this team is back together. Everyone wanted it! Did everyone want it? I don’t know.” Brie and Brown laughed about a storyline in the season premiere that finds Shirley and Annie working together, albeit without a lot of screen time. As Brown put it, “We have at least three minutes together -- at least! We’re getting the band back together.”

Brown had long been hoping for specific storylines between Shirley and Troy, noting that had actually never occurred in an episode. When I mentioned this, she replied, “Let me tell you something… Dreams do come true, people! Dreams do come true. If you say them enough. If you wear them down! Donald and I have worked together probably four or five times already this season. It’s been a lot, even just small, little conversations. We’ve had a full episode -- we’re the A or B story. Then there’s another nice little thing, so there’s going to be a lot of Troy and Shirley this season, which I was excited about. Because I never got to work with Donald. It’s a lot of Shirley and Troy, so yeah, dreams do come true.”

Jacobs chuckled over her inability to remember specifics about her storylines, explaining, “See, guys, this is the problem when we shoot them and don’t see them. They don’t show us edits of the episodes. We don’t watch them until they literally air on television, so we can’t remember these things.”

Exit Theatre Mode

Jacobs did promise for Britta, “A lot of therapizing. Yeah, continued therapizing. Just undeterred in her attempts to inflict her therapy skills on the group… because people aren’t willing participants in this. It’s just her forcing it on them. So, a lot more of that.”

It's Always October 19th!

After Community got a last minute delay from its intended October 19th debut (with no specific date for its return initially given as a replacement), a very funny video quickly appeared online featuring the cast joking about the nebulous “October 19th” return. Asked whose idea that was, Brown pointed at Jacobs, revealing, “It was this one! This one’s idea. Gillian’s the mastermind when it comes to ways to get our name out there. We all have ideas, but Gillian’s the one who’s like, “We’re going to do this!”

Said Brie, “It also was about giving something to the fans. As much as it’s hard for us when our schedule is pushed and all these things, we know it’s equally hard for the fans. They’re right there with us. And as much as people don’t always address it in a straightforward manner with us… For Gillian, it was important to her and to us to put something out.”

Added Brown, “And the writers got on board and wrote something amazing and we shot it, and it was well received. Thank you, [Gillian]!”

The Community cast talk about celebrating Christmas in the spring, new guest stars and more on Page 2.